Horse riding in the Canadian Rockies
| country: | Canada |
| location: | Canadian Rockies, Alberta |
| departures: | Please contact us for departure details |
| price: | From CA $1110 (6 days) excluding flights |
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the amazing things you'll be doing
This horse pack holiday of a lifetime into one of the most splendid wilderness areas of the world, just north of Banff National Park territory, will create memories that will last a lifetime.
Included in this trip are hearty breakfasts, picnic lunches, evening meals, freshly baked muffins and fruit pies, and tasty campfire snacks. Vegetarian diets can be accommodated. We also provide a rain slicker, horn/pommel bag, folding camp cot, horse, tack, staff, transport and private wall tents.
Our suggested list of things to bring includes a sleeping bag (3 seasons), warm jacket, hiking or riding boots and swim suit.
Included in this trip are hearty breakfasts, picnic lunches, evening meals, freshly baked muffins and fruit pies, and tasty campfire snacks. Vegetarian diets can be accommodated. We also provide a rain slicker, horn/pommel bag, folding camp cot, horse, tack, staff, transport and private wall tents.
Our suggested list of things to bring includes a sleeping bag (3 seasons), warm jacket, hiking or riding boots and swim suit.
day-by-day itinerary
| Day 1: | Pick up and transfer to staging area, lunch, orientation then saddle up and head out for a 5 ˝ hour ride to the camp, with regular rests. Site heritage interpretation along the way: Winters Flats - this was the location of a horse ranch in the 1920s to the 1940s. It raised and provide horses for the prairie farms, ranches and logging operations. Bob Dial trap line cabin. Beaver Lake – headwaters of Cutoff Creek. This location is great moose and loon habitat. Sawmill Creek Camp and Flats - the location of a 1940s sawmill business. Forty Mile Patrol Cabin - this is an occupied forestry patrol cabin built by forest rangers in the 1940s. The cabin is on the bank of the 40 Mile Creek and Clearwater River, with a great view of the flats and Forty Mile Ridge, Sawtooth Mountain, Indian Head and Mount Peters. Dominion Forestry Cabin - this is an old cabin used by the Federal forestry agency before the land trade between Alberta and the Federal Government. |
| Day 2: | Day ride to Indian Heat patrol cabin: this is a 3hour ride each way. The building is a working patrol cabin used by Parks Canada to patrol the east Banff Park boundary. It will be a great ride through old hunting camps, stone cairn boundary markers. |
| Day 3: | Lost Guide Lake ride: 3 hrs each way. High mountain lake: 7,000 feet. Cut throat trout. Each season brings a new look |
| Day 4: | Day ride to Bear Man Cabin. A 2-hour ride through rugged terrain to a trapper’s cabin and horse shed, on Forbidden Creek – lots of interesting tools for the trapping business to be seen. Stop at an Indian grave site on the ride back to camp |
| Day 5: | Choice of 3 rides: Christmas Tree Meadows, Poplar Ridge ride or Forty Mile Ridge ride. Each ride is unique, offering different vegetation and wildlife as the seasons change. This day is not included in the 5 day trip. |
| Day 6: | Pack up for the ride back to the staging area. |
travellers' tales
The week we spent in the Rockies was truly a life-changing experience. By travelling on horseback we got further into the mountains than we had hoped, and the horses worked as a happy team following in an orderly line which made the trip relaxed, enjoyable and safe. (more)
how this holiday makes a difference
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The main trail in the Clearwater Valley was used by the prairie aboriginal people as a route to Indian Days in Banff during the early years. The entire trail network was developed and used by hunters, trappers and outfitters for the last 100 years.
Each season brings different vegetation colour and animal viewing as they move from higher to lower elevations. This entire area is all part of the Bighorn Wildland Area. It is classed as a Forest Land Use Zone, which offers limited, in-season hunting and non-motorized recreation. There is ongoing wolf, grizzly, and elk study and surveillance. Alberta Forest Services does insect and vegetation studies. Alberta Fisheries has an ongoing bull trout study. This low impact use of the area and the revenues it generates provides employment to local people who are knowledgeable of the land. Their observations of changes in wildlife populations and resources contribute to the sustainable management of the area. |
Tourism can be good and bad for destinations & local people. We carefully screen every holiday against our criteria for responsible travel. 'Look behind the brochure' to find how each holiday makes a difference (see left). We don't claim to be perfect - there is no global accreditation - but we've led the way since 2001 and screened 1000's of holidays. We invite every traveller to write a review about their experiences and responsible tourism. This valuable feedback is sent to the people who run the holidays. We keep a very close eye on it and take off holidays that don't live up to our standards. |